The Grand Theatre is a historic

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

located in Wheaton,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It opened on May 25, 1925, with 1,000 seats, and hosted live drama,

silent films A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

, and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performances. The theater changed hands many times in the 20th century, and at various times was known as the Paramount Theatre and The Wheaton Theatre. In the late 1990s, the theater was used for second-run films, and more recently, as a small concert hall for

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

bands. The theater was donated to the non-profit Grand Theater Corporation in October 2001. In the fall of 2005, the building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It was closed in 2006 for a full renovation of the property and the Grand Theater Corporation was anticipating to re-open it as a single screen theater in late 2011. However, Wheaton rejected a plan to allocate $19.3 million to finance the renovation and the theater's debts. Wheaton Park District is currently considering a $10 million plan that would reopen the theater with 860 seats. The theater will feature a donated Morton organ from the 1920s, originally from one of the Loew's Wonder Theatres.

References

Grand Theatre: Timeline
* Daily Herald: Rare 1920s Organ to Make Home in Wheaton Theater* Daily Herald: Wheaton Park Board's $19.3 Million Grand Theater Plan Gets the Hook National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Wheaton, Illinois Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois {{DuPageCountyIL-NRHP-stub